None Braver : U. S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorism

by Hirsh, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780451209832
• ISBN10: 0451209834
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-02
• Publisher: NAL Hardcover

Summary

From award-winning journalist and combat veteran Michael Hirsh comes the thrilling inside story of the Air Force's pararescue operations in Afghanistan. The first journalist to be embedded with an Air Force combat unit in the war on terrorism, Hirsh flew from Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, with the 71st Rescue Squadron to their expeditionary headquarters at a secret location in Central Asia. Unparalleled access to the pararescue jumpers-or PJs-as well as to the courageous men and women who fly them where they have to go, often under enemy fire, allowed Michael Hirsh to uncover incredible stories of courage. Among them: the drama of a plane crash at 10,000 feet in the Hindu Kush mountains, where PJs climb with hundred-pound packs through chest-deep snow to rescue the crew...the tension of an unprecedented nighttime combat parachute jump into the middle of an Afghan minefield...the heartbreak during Operation Anaconda, when seven American fighting men die, including the first PJ killed in combat since Vietnam.

Author Biography

Michael Hirsh is a Vietnam combat veteran, a broadcast journalist, and a George Foster Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker. He is the author of Pararescue: The Skill and Courage of the Elite 106th Rescue Wing: The True Story of an Incredible Rescue at Sea and the Heroes Who Pulled It Off.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. xiii
Prologue: The Worst Day of His Life	p. 1
"Hey, We Got Company"	p. 5
JDAMned	p. 34
Boyz 'N the HAS	p. 52
Murphy Never Rests	p. 82
"Holy Shit, Ditka Just Crashed"	p. 107
The Most Righteous Mission	p. 125
Free-falling to a Minefield	p. 156
Evil in the Valley	p. 175
Recon by Casualty	p. 198
KIA	p. 218
"We Weren't Getting Shot at That Bad"	p. 239
"I Regret to Inform You..."	p. 260
Epilogue: Where Are They Now?	p. 275
In Memoriam	p. 287
Index	p. 289
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.